India-UK ties can ease an Elizabethan burden

Source: The post is based on an article “India-UK ties can ease an Elizabethan burden” published in The Live Mint on 12^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India

News: The article discusses India and UK relations after the demise of Queen Elizabeth II.

India and Britain trade relations exist from the Mughal era.Even now there is discussion on the trade from the Britain side asking India to cut the duty of 150% on Scotch whisky imports.

U.K. is currently facing serious economic problems and ties with India will be of help for both the countries.

What is the current economic condition of the U.K.?

There is galloping inflation with rise in food prices.

There are problems with the energy supplies after Russia decided to reduce the gas supply.

There is an increase in cost of living with high debt burden.

However, the ties with India and can be useful in improving these situations.

What are the areas of cooperation between India and the U.K.?

India wants easy entry to skilled Indians into the U.K. even though U.K. has dropped tariffs on labor intensive Indian exports.

U.K. wishes India to grant access to British legal services market and lower import barriers to its Scotch and cars.

The other areas of cooperation between the two nations are Indian production of British defence equipment and cooperation in technology (AI and Data exchange).

Both the nations have decided to sign an early-harvest interim agreement by the end of October.

However, there has also been concern in the U.K. over buying Russia’s oil by India in spite of Western sanctions on Russia.